how bout some pictures?

I still have pictures from July to share, but they are on Merridy's computer in Reno. I'm working on that...

Derek at his Change of Command Ceremony in May

Happy Eight Year Anniversary to me. My surprise roses from Iraq.
Me and the kids at Pacific Beach for our June 'Moms Only' and you can bring your kids vacation.

The Dunes. The wind was so strong it made these huge sand dunes. The kids had a blast playing on them. Not so much fun to walk up and down, but then again, walking on sand isn't always fun.

This was actually our last day at the beach. It was super windy and about 60 degrees. We didn't bring the kids suits because we thought they'd never want to get in the freezing cold ocean. So Leah started the strip down and before we knew it, all the kids were in their undies playing in the water and having a blast.

Charlie was the only one with any sense.

He always kept his distance. The waves scared him a little.

We tried a mini photo shoot with Charlie on the hill by the cottages. He didn't like it much.

Last day at the beach, playing on the dunes.

Had I known the kids would love flying kites so much and it would be so easy I would have forked out the money for the good nylon butterfly kite Leah wanted. Instead I bought the 3 dollar kite and got in about 30 minutes of kite flying before the wind tore it apart.

It was super cold this day, but there was a little pool of water left over from the tide that was really warm. The kids played in the puddle all morning and left the ocean alone.

"heavy"

Sand Castle Fun

People at been out clamming earlier in the morning and there were holes all over the beach. I don't remember why Leah was so excited about the holes.

Ready for some beach fun!

A group picture of everyone who came to the beach. We had two beach houses between us. So much fun, we could have stayed a month. I only wish it had been warmer than 65 degrees while we were there. I guess that's Washington for you in early June.

Charlie was terrified of the waves. This picture cracks me up because he's holding on to me so tight. He cried if I walked with him into the water. I'm such a mean mom.

My favorite picture of the beach. I only wish I'd gotten a good one of me and Leah. She wouldn't sit still long enough to take one, way to many friends to play with and beaches and ocean to see.

Sewing

I've finally updated my sewing blog if anyone wants to check it out. Someday, I will post some pictures and random details about my exploits this summer.

Past Due Pictures

I have nothing else to do tonight so I thought why not post some photos. These will be just a random jumble from the past 3 months. I'll try to caption them so you know what I'm showing you. These are in no particular order, most are from most recent to oldest.

APRIL

Everyone was sick Easter Sunday. We stayed home from church. The next weekend I got the kids dressed up in there Easter gear and attempted some photos. We didn't have much time before church started and I wasn't feeling particularly artistic with the camera.


This is the best I could get with them both standing in the same picture. No cooperation.

What a handsome boy. This kid kills me with how stinking cute he is. He's such a little devil too. He'll run up to you all lovey and just when you think he'll throw his arms around your neck and give you a hug, he whacks you on the head instead.

Leah in her beautiful princess dress. She picked it out with a little nudging from me.

Leah all ready for her first day of Pre-school. I was actually thinking and snapped some quick photos. You have to have pictures of the first day!

We went to the Easter Egg Hunt on Post. It was a beautiful day and the kids had fun running around and grabbing eggs. There were tons of people there and I don't know if I'll do this hunt again next year. What a mad house. All the kids and their parents lined up along the field, they yells go and you had to run for the eggs thrown onto the grass, not hidden. I almost lost Leah a couple of times chasing after the run away that is Charlie. We didn't get many eggs, but they had fun.

Charlie with his (empty) eggs. You had to line up after the hunt, turn in your empty eggs to get prizes. I'm not sure if this was lame or smart...no eggs to stuff, but waiting in line for candy sucked.

They look like such angels, those little devils in disguise.

Leah and her egg stash.

Running wild on the field. He was more interested in sprinting away than picking up eggs.

FEBRUARY

Daddy came home for R&R in February. I got a few pictures, not many, he's camera shy. The kids loved having daddy home. I was a little nervous how Charlie would react to him. I needn't have worried. Charlie ran right to him at the airport and let Derek pick him up. He wanted nothing to do with me the 2 weeks daddy was home. It was wonderful to see. Leah was all about him too. She took a slightly different approach. She discovered that she could play off her parents to get what she wants. If one is busy, go ask the other one. Someone is bound to give her what she wants.

Not quite sure what everyone is looking at.

MARCH

My Dad came out again in March to spend a couple weeks with us. We were able to go back to the beach for 4 wonderful days and we went up to Seattle again. This is a picture of Leah on the Ferry. We had to makeshift a coat for her. Somewhere in the shuffle hers was left at home. Poor frozen kid. It was so cold on the ferry that day.

My sister flew out to spend the weekend with us while Dad was here. My sister is in the grey sweatshirt and my cousin Lark is next to her in the white jacket. Lark moved north of Seattle a week before my family came to visit. We all got together a couple of times while everyone was here. It was fun.

I don't know where they got this idea, but it was so funny to watch them. They did this all on their own, with absolutely NO help from me. It was their campfire. I guess they are practicing for the future. I remember talking to Derek about taking them camping when he comes back home. There are wood chips in the rock circle that you can't see. Leah was so proud of her campfire. I was proud of them for making it and glad they don't know where I keep the matches.

Out at the beach. Cold again, it will be fun to go when you don't have to bundle up in thermals and winter jackets. Leah is feeding the birds some old crackers. They went nuts flocking around us. I thought they were going to attack a few times.

Building sand castles

Well that's the end of the show. I have more pictures, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to extract them from the word document they are in and put them here. When I figure it out, stay tuned for pictures from Twilight release day craziness! (I'm so behind....)

First day of School

Last year I was very vocal about not putting Leah into preschool. I didn't think she was ready and I didn't feel like paying for 3 years of preschool. Well mostly it was about the money. Preschool here is astronomical! So last week I broke down, almost literally. Leah stopped taking her afternoon nap about 3 weeks ago and I've been miserable and she's been miserable ever since. I need that afternoon time, kid free to recharge for the evenings. She needs that time Mom free to recharge. If we don't get it, we clash and fight. So I was planning on putting Leah in school in the fall, but no naps made me change the decision really quick. I talked with Derek and we decided to see if I could get her in NOW. I got lucky. The waiting list is usually huge, talk about right place, right time and I think a little of the Lord on my side for that one. He knows I was at my wits end. So today Leah went to her first day of preschool. She didn't seem to care to much. She attends hourly care all the time and preschool is in the same building. She I'm sure she thought she'd be doing what she always does there. I talked to her teacher afterwards and she said Leah did well for her first day. They have a field trip on Wednesday and that should be fun for her. She attends MWF 12:30-3:30. Charlie actually gets his nap (Leah's been waking him up) and I get some guaranteed peace and quiet.
Pictures of her first day to be posted sometime...

New Toys

I have been spoiled lately. As hard and terrible as it is having Derek away from our family for a year, I've been enjoying the extra pay. We have been better able to get some of those little "extras" in life. Some of you have heard, and some have seen my Valentine's Day gift. (It wasn't really, but we bought it on Valentine's Day, so I can pretend right?")

This has been many years in the making. I've begged, literally for years to upgrade our piece of CRT. Movie and TV watching have changed forever...

My new toy arrived this morning and I've already tested it out, and my lucky friends, living close will the be recipients of some of this bounty.

So what is it, you may be thinking? It's a wheat grinder. You know for grinding whole wheat kernels into flour. Yes, I'm the little red hen. I have a wheat grinder from ages past, old mill stone and everything, but it isn't doing so well. It makes great cracked wheat, but not so great on the flour. Derek and I are working on building our food storage and this is an essential part of the process for us. His mother has always made whole wheat bread and my grandma has always made bread, so I am going to start making fresh bread as well. His mom gave me her recipe a few years ago and showed me some of the tricks, so I'm going to be practicing like crazy to get it right.

It's nice to be spoiled.

Quicky

We are all doing well. I've been keeping busy and haven't made time for updates. Derek was recently home for a 2 week vacation. It was wonderful having him home. The kids took to him like he'd never been gone. That was wonderful to watch. He's now safely back at work. I got a call from him this morning. It was a long, draining trip, hopefully he'll adjust quickly.

I'll try to make some time in the coming weeks to upload some pictures and write a bit more detail. I said I wasn't working on my sewing while Derek was away, but I am such a softy for a sob story, I gave in and am almost overloaded with work. I need to get tougher and just say NO!

Beach Photography

The wintry scenes at the ocean totally inspired my artistic side and I got some good pictures with my little camera. This place was so beautiful. The pictures don't really do it justice.

The mists coming off the ocean. That is a cliff in the background, our cottage was up there.

This is a picture of the residential houses across a small river that runs into the ocean. It creates a nice quiet private beach for the. There is no way to cross the river and walk over by those houses.

At the rivers edge

I got an extreme close up, one of my favorite ways to take pictures of the water running into the river and eroding the sand.

Lone drift wood

This was a beautiful piece of driftwood at the mouth of the river. I almost got drenched by waves taking pictures of it. I forgot to watch and the tide was coming in. I got out of the way just in time.

Reflections

I love the way the sky is reflecting into the wet sand. I wish I knew what the pillars of wood were for sticking up in the sand. It sort of marks the edge of the river, depending on what time of day it is. When the tide is in, those pillars are way out in the ocean.

This is my favorite scenic picture from our trip. My breath was taken away by how beautiful the sun's rays mixed with the clouds and mists in the trees, breaking into streaks of light. I am proud of my little camera.